How star freshman Paolo Banchero helped Duke basketball survive a home scare, beat Clemson
DURHAM – Leading by two and desperately needing a basket to avoid its second home conference loss to an unranked team this month, Duke basketball resorted to one of the simplest tricks in the book.
Get the ball to your best player and get out of the way.
Everyone here in Cameron Indoor Stadium knew who was getting the ball on the Blue Devils’ last offensive possession yet the result was the same: star freshman Paolo Banchero posting up Clemson’s Hunter Tyson on the left block, dribbling once, spinning, absorbing contact and banking in a dagger.
Duke 71. Clemson 69. Untimely January loss avoided.
“I had no choice but to finish,” Banchero said.
The No. 9 Blue Devils got a little from a lot of their roster in moving to 16-3 and 6-2 in the ACC on Tuesday night, from Jeremy Roach’s nine assists against one turnover to Wendell Moore Jr.’s 13 points to huge first-half minutes from forwards Joey Baker and Bates Jones, who combined for four 3-pointers.
But with Duke ahead 69-67 and 38.6 seconds left, head coach Mike Krzyzewski stuck to his guns and drew up an isolation for the 6-foot-10 Banchero, who’d hit some in-game turbulence in getting there.
The former five-star recruit from Seattle got whistled for two personal fouls in the game’s first five minutes: a charge call he described as “iffy” and a poorly executed steal attempt that was completely “on me.”
Banchero reappeared midway through the first half and escaped without a third foul. But he played just nine of 20 minutes, and it showed. Clemson (11-9, 3-6 ACC) entered this game as the conference’s top 3-point shooting squad (38.4% as a team) and leaned on that firepower to punch Duke in the mouth early.
Much-improved big man P.J. Hall went to work inside the arc and his teammates supported him outside of it as the Tigers shot 50% on 3-pointers and left at halftime deadlocked with the Blue Devils at 36-36.
Duke was playing out of character, forcing passes and allowing offensive rebounds and fading out and away from the paint that’s made it the ACC’s No. 1 shooting and scoring offense. Krzyzewski offered, as he described it postgame with a grin, “an emotional plea from an old coach” to snap out of it. And soon.
The sheer passage of time had Banchero ready for the challenge. Two fouls in the first half can be a nuisance; two fouls in the second half barely register a blip on a box score. Banchero started the second period and never left it, scoring 14 of his team-high 19 points in those blissfully stress-free 20 minutes.
He pump-faked Tyson into the air and converted an and-one jump shot. He drew extra defenders and delegated to Moore (twice) and Roach for open 3-pointers, which they swished. He shot 6-11 and grabbed five rebounds and put Duke up 60-53, tied for its largest lead of the night, with 9:25 left.
What exactly was working for him in the second half?
“Just being on the court,” Banchero said, and he paused for a beat to smirk at that accidentally tongue-in-cheek response. “Being more aggressive, looking for my shots but also looking to find my teammates. Teams have been doing a good job plugging the lane and doubling, so I’ve got to be more aware now.”
“He executed great,” Roach said. “That was really big for us.”
Then things got tight. Clemson went up 65-63, the go-ahead layup coming after Tyson stripped Banchero of the ball for his fourth turnover, and those memories of Miami at home and Florida State on the road – close ACC games Duke had a chance to close out but could not – got a little more vivid.
The Blue Devils responded with crispy crunch-time possessions. Roach made a jumper for 65-65. Baker flicked in a driving layup for 67-65. Banchero’s pull-up made it 69-65 and his twisting post shot on Tyson (after missing a three on Duke’s last possession) ended a valiant upset bid for the hot-shooting Tigers.
“They just went to him a lot,” Clemson coach Brad Brownell said.
And when it mattered most, Duke’s best player delivered.
Keels still out
Trevor Keels, a freshman guard and Duke’s third leading scorer, missed his second consecutive game Tuesday with the right calf injury he suffered in the second half of a Jan. 18 loss at Florida State. As with Saturday’s win over Syracuse, Keels was listed as doubtful pregame and didn’t dress for the contest.
“He has progressed very well, but he has still not gotten on a court,” Krzyzewski said Monday during the ACC coaches teleconference, per the News & Observer. “In saying that, he is in the weight room. He’s doing all the things our sports scientists want to make sure we’re treating this injury properly and not rushing his return.”
Next up
Duke plays at Louisville on Saturday, Jan. 29, at noon. The Cardinals are 11-9 and 5-5 in the ACC this season, and they've lost five of their last six games. The game will be broadcast on either ESPN or ESPN2.
Chapel Fowler is a recruiting reporter for The Fayetteville Observer and the USA TODAY Network. Reach him by email at cfowler@gannett.com or on Twitter at @chapelfowler.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Duke basketball, Coach K get big game from Paolo Banchero beat Clemson
